E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Quas’sia.
An American plant, or rather genus of plants, named after Quassi, a negro.
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“Linnæus applied this name to a tree of Surinam in honour of a negro, Quassi, … who employed its bark as a remedy for fever; and enjoyed such a reputation among the natives as to be almost worshipped by some,”—Lindley and Moore: Treatise of Botany, part ii. p. 947.)
